Taki and Molly Kitamura: A Tour of New York City

By Molly and Takahiro “Horitaka” Kitamura
New York City. I love this over-crowded, smelly, hot and humid oasis of culture, counter-culture, history, music and art. Horitaka, Horitomo, Drew Flores, and I flew out to give Horitomo’s seminar on Japanese back pieces that he did for The Bay Area Convention of the Tattoo Arts last year. It was a whirlwind of heat, walking, talking and eating…

We started out at Kings Ave. in Manhattan, the gracious hosts for the seminar that weekend. It’s an amazing shop that runs like a beautiful well-oiled machine, the shop guy John was a godsend, helping us set up and organize the event.

We were busy in the days leading up to the seminar; renting equipment for the seminar, touring Manhattan- Times Square is a nightmare by the way!! We ate some really good food of course, our favorites being 100 Acres and Peels. The salmon at 100 Acres was to die for, salty balanced with sweet lemon marmalade, a true revelation. And the in-house cured ham at Peels melts in your mouth, incredible!

We made it out to Brooklyn for the day, stopping by Smith Street and had a very good brunch at some German-inspired bar with Bert and the guys. The French toast was like candy…
I was so impressed with the walls at Smith Street; they’re filled with all original, hand-painted flash some done by the guys themselves and some done by their other talented friends. It was very impressive and a rare sight to see!

One other mentionable event was the hardcore show we went to. We were staying with our friends the beautiful Jesse Lee Denning and her talented musician boyfriend, Brian. One of the bands Brian is in is a hardcore band made up of some of the biggest legends of the genre. The club was in one of those basement bars, over-crowded and hot as hell. The band was awesome and Taki and I felt 19 again!

The seminar was a success as Horitomo and Taki were spot on and it seemed like the attendees got what they needed out of the experience. Most walked away with one of Horitomo’s coveted prints, everyone left with smiles. Yes, the trip to NYC was a blast and we accomplished what we set out to do, which was to give an informative seminar and see the city that never sleeps.

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